FootNotes for Solstice

I celebrated the Summer Solstice with a show co-choreographed by and featuring my advisor Eric. It was a tap performance with a jazz quartet so there was some improvisation as well as well choreographed pieces. It was a lovely performance, especially to see the different physicalities of the five dancers performing the same choreography.

It was a nice bit of whimsy for this special day.

Deepa Mehta's trilogy

Yesterday I completed my three consecutive Saturday viewings of Deepa Mehta's trilogy (Fire, Earth, Water). It is a beautiful series. The music and cinematography are excellent. The stories are nuanced and interesting. They are definitely worth seeing, especially in the movie theatre. (The opening credits for Earth were impressive on the big screen.)

If you want to see more films that have a wonderful humanity and awareness, though very different, Mira Nair is another great filmmaker, also born in India. I've seen at least three films by her, though none more recent than Monsoon Wedding, and she often addresses personal desires and familial/cultural expectations through interesting stories.

Communication Frustration

I have been processing a minor revelation about the extent to which miscommunication occurs. The trigger for this revelation was a conversation with the head of my program and the discovery that one of my projects was evaluated on terms I did not attempt/intend to meet. Let me make this more clear: I was trying to discuss the context for a performance while he evaluated me for a performance analysis. I spent more time discussing the reviews, articles published in the local papers during the performances, and the introductory words from the playwright (preface to the script and published in the programme); I didn't actually discuss audience reception much nor did I discuss details of the performance except in relation to reviews. Clearly, this was a bad approach to performance analysis in which presenting details of the performance are key.

I recently read an essay by Roland Barthes in which he comments on something very similar. He says criticizing a person's poor French when the person is speaking Chinese will yield an evaluation of poor French skills. It's a great example of hearing what you want to hear more than what the other person is saying. Or missing a key piece of information that would clarify things and make them less difficult/confusing.

I don't suppose this would bother me as much if I didn't take communication so seriously (and personally). Now I am psyching myself up to write my dissertation which I intended to be a continuation of the previously mentioned work. I am currently having doubts about this choice because I don't know if I want to risk being misunderstood again. On the other hand, the head of department assured me that he thinks I am bright.

Sweet, sweet Sweeney!

Just happened to discover that Tim Burton is directing a film version of Sondheim's Sweeney Todd that is set to be released in January 2008. For those who are interested or intrigued (or both), the cast includes Johnny Depp as Sweeney, Helena Bonham Carter as Mrs. Lovett, Alan Rickman as Judge Turpin, and Sacha Baron Cohen as Pirelli.

Can you guess where I'll be on 11 January, 2008?

Sweeney Todd at the Gate

I saw my first performance at the Gate Theatre last night. It was an acclaimed production of Sondheim's Sweeney Todd. It was bold and interesting. I was surprised to see Barry McGovern as the Judge. I was also surprised to see dance numbers and enactments of almost every referenced scene in the play. It's once thing to have a younger Mrs. Lovett mirroring actions in spaced defined as the historical shop space (that is, when Benjamin Barker and his wife Lucy were the occupants); it is another thing to stage an elaborate swimsuit dance number to accompany Mrs. Lovett's song 'By the Sea'.

Overall, however, I did enjoy the show. They opted to use flour (and wig removal, which I will explain if you are interested) to signify death/murder which made an interesting complicity with Mrs. Lovett's pie shop. There were some unintentional uses of it as well (such as Anthony accidentally wearing some of the flour left by Pirelli in a previous scene). There was clearly lots of thought and effort in the production. And it's a great piece of theatre.

I encouraged some non-musical-theatre-lovers to attend this production. All of them enjoyed it, though this was usually followed by the disclaimer that they still have issues with musical theatre as a form. And I must agree that there are plenty of issues to be had. But there's lots of enjoyment to be had as well.

(Relative) Absence of Updates

My recent absence of updates is largely related to my state of mental chaos regarding my dissertation: it is the final project of my tenure in Dublin and is not developing as I had hoped.

I have discovered, though, in my state of mental chaos that I have a much wider circle of intellectual support than I had realized previously. Perhaps this is the silver lining to shimmer in the torrential downpour. So shimmer it does and drenched I am; nevertheless, I am feeling optimistic in some small way and I shall cling to that.

Hope you are all well. I'll try to post some antics or insights, but I make no promises as part of my current state is a lack of certainty as to how I am actually going to progress.

Defiance is in print!

For those who have been reading my blog since the fall, you know that I am quite passionate about John Patrick Shanley's play Doubt, a parable. After writing it, Shanley realized it was really part of a larger trilogy about coming of age and the related issues. So Doubt leads to Defiance. The first is set in a Catholic parish in the Bronx; the second is set in the Marine Corps in North Carolina. The third, alas, has not been announced.

But Defiance is available in print as of today. And I have, indeed, ordered my copy.

Argh.

In my most Charlie Brown moments there is nothing more appropriate than a well-placed "Argh". And my pursuit of a career in academics feels like Charlie Brown's own quest to kick the football. Just when I think I've got my strategy all figured out, I keep running into the same problem: it's difficult to kick a ball that gets moved from in front of my foot.

And so I continue to research and attempt to write. No matter how much I try to make my objectives small and attainable, I find myself drawn to conceptions of changing the world and discovering theatre that affects me with its passion and power. Those who know me know well my potential for binging on the critical side of a discussion--often emphasizing what didn't work over what did--in my attempt to understand how the production missed the passionate aim.

But I am really committed to this effort and if my life continues to be punctuated with falling on my rear after another attempt to kick the bloody football...well, I think there are worse things.